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2015 Lexus RC F coupe first drive

F yeah! Hotrod version of Lexus' new RC coupe is the real deal

September 4, 2014

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What is it?

It’s the ultra-high-performance derivative of Lexus’s new RC 350 coupe (check out our review on that car here). With the LF A’s production run complete and the IS F sedan rolling toward the sunset, the new-for-2015 RC F will be the Lexus performance flagship for years to come.

The RC F’s direct competition is obvious enough: The Audi RS5, the BMW M4 and the Mercedes C63 AMG Coupe (and perhaps soon, a Cadillac ATS V coupe). These cars account for only five percent of sales in the growing market for compact luxury brand coupes, but their impact extends beyond the numbers. Lexus marketing chief Brian Smith calls the RC F a halo car. As the sole bearer of Lexus’s F designation (for Fuji, as in Speedway), it will set the brand’s performance tone, build its enthusiast cred and help drive sales of the profitable F-Sport option on other cars in the line, including the standard RC 350.

The RC F starts in the same place as the RC 350—on a platform and suspension melded for the Lexus GS sedan (front wheel wells forward), the IS sedan (rear wheel wells back) and the IS C convertible (in the middle). The RC is stiffened further with unique under floor braces, and its length, wheelbase and width don’t vary more than a few inches from any if its performance coupe competitors.

The most obvious thing separating RC F from the V6-powered RC 350 is its 5.0-liter V8. The block is the same one used in the current IS F sedan, but everything else in the engine changes. There are new heads with titanium valves, a larger throttle body and lighter connecting rods with a narrower cross section. The net is an increase of 51 horsepower compared to the IS F, for a class-leading 467, with 389 pound-feet of torque and a 7,300 rpm redline. Yet new motor-driven cam phasers can keep the intake valves open longer at light loads, effectively creating an Atkinson cycle in the RC F V8. Projected EPA numbers (16/25) surpass those for the RS5, C63 and dual-clutch, six-cylinder M4.

It doesn’t stop there. The F’s performance upgrades are comprehensive, starting with a Torsen limited-slip rear end. There’s also an optional torque vectoring differential that uses motors to manipulate clutch packs on each rear half-shaft. It can torque up one side or the other to help vector the RC F through a corner. It’s manually adjustable, and trick, but it also adds 70 pounds of mass.

The 2015 Lexus RC F gets a 5-liter V8 good for 467 hp Photo by Lexus

The RC F’s springs are firmer than those on an RC 350 with F-Sport upgrade. The Brembo brakes are larger still, with six-piston aluminum mono-block calipers in front, four-piston in the rear. Michelin Pilot Sports come standard (235/40-19 front, 265/35-19 rear). There’s more driver-selectable adjustment for the eight-speed torque converter automatic (the only choice), the electrically boosted steering and the stability electronics, including all-off.

The F adds a triangular structural brace in the engine compartment and another behind the rear seat (which in turn eliminates the folding rear seat). It has an aluminum hood and bumper beams, a speed-activated rear wing and an optional carbon-fiber wing and roof panel. At 3,958 pounds, its curb weight slots below the all-wheel-drive RS5 and just above the C63. Its power-to-weight ratio is surpassed only by the much lighter M4.

And it looks the part. The F adds big intake grilles at the edges of the RC’s front valance for oil and transmission coolers. It has a vent in the center of its hood, and gill vents at trailing edge of its front fenders. Its exhaust tips are stacked at a 45-degree angle, and it does without the funny strakes at the corners of the RC 350’s rear bumper. The RC F grabs plenty of looks, in “what’s that?” more than “whoh, beauty!” fashion.

This car comes track ready, and as if to prove the point, Lexus will begin building FIA-spec GT-3 race cars for customers this fall. Yet the company insists it wanted more.

“The goal was a track-ready car for any driver, assessable to all skill levels,” say chief engineer Yukihiko Naguchi. “We wanted a car that can captivate experienced enthusiasts and create new ones from novice drivers”

Hot on the heels of BMW M2 rumors earlier this week, we found this drag race video featuring the 2014 BMW M235i and a

The RC F hits showrooms with the RC 350 in November, starting at $62,400. That’s a few hundred less than the current base price for the C63 AMG, about $2,000 less than the M4, and over $8,000 less than the RS5. Options are plentiful for the RC F—including the carbon fiber, trick differential, safety systems such as blind-spot warning, an all-weather package and 835-watt Mark Levinson audio—and can add $15,000 to the price. Lexus anticipates some 2,500 sales annually, compared to 15,000 for the RC 350

The IS F sedan will end its seven-year run with arrival of the RC F, but that should matter only to those who need four doors on their track Lexus. The new halo beams brighter than ever.

How’s it drive?

Like the new big swinger in the Lexus lineup, or a highly competent track car that won’t pummel you on the road. The standard Lexus RC 350 is well sorted, and engaging as many Lexus products go. The RC F takes everything—head-rush acceleration, minimized body roll, dizzying lateral g loads—to an entirely different level.

The first thing you’ll notice is the seats. They’re the best in a model line filled with good seats, and the extra sport bolstering doesn’t make them too difficult to slide into. The shoulder wings provide excellent support and help keep the driver in place, but they don’t limit shoulder or arm movement.

The 2015 Lexus RC F performance coupe gets a more sporting interior than its RC 350 brother. Photo by Lexus

The second thing is rumble and acceleration. The RC F is really fast, and you don’t need a race track to notice. Just floor it on a lightly-traveled stretch of road. It downshifts a couple a gears, presses you back into the seat and rockets--in a style that can stun if you’ve been puttering at 45 mph. You’ll feel the rear wheels skip sideways in the upshift from second to third, even as the traction electronics do their work. The digital readout in the center says 100 when you blink.

The electrically boosted power steering is well tuned, and the default steering effort might be the firmest in the competitive set. We like that. We’d also like a manual transmission option, and it would seem that Lexus, in its quest to build heritage and enthusiast cred on par with its European competitors, would want one too, no matter how many buyers actually choose it.

Regardless, the RC F’s eight-speed might be the best performance-tuned torque converter automatic to date. Manual shifts seem as quick as those in a dual-clutch, but there is no price to pay in jerk and lurch when the RC F is trundling through errands or a commute. The control electronics protect against over-revving on downshifts, if road speed is too high for the selected gear. They’ll hold first gear to redline, but shift up if you hit the limiter. They’ll let the driver bump the limiter all day without shifting up in second and beyond.

The eight-speed might be more impressive in full auto mode, with the electronics in Sport +. A new management program called G-Force Artificial Intelligence uses g readings from the on-board accelerometers in the shift-control strategy. It will downshift readily and sequentially under hard braking, and it won’t upshift before the exit when the RC F is blasting out of a sweeper. In full hammer mode at a place like the Monticello Motor Club in New York, where the 4.1 mile roller coaster has 450 feet of elevation change and 18 turns to learn, the RC F auto will choose gears better than most of us could on our own.

The 2015 Lexus RC F is perfectly at home on the track. Photo by Lexus

On track, the 2015 Lexus RC F delivers more brake force, more aural satisfaction and more speed than a RC 350 with F-Sport—more of everything, except body roll. With the RC F, in Sport +, you get the most aggressive damping rate available—no adjustment for the surface, no variation. It’s racier, more enthusiastic, without feeling muscle bound or heavy.

Yet the skid management electronics remain generally protective. The RC F’s default is a safe push, if you brake too late and turn in too quickly. You’ll just stay off the gas and slow down. But if go in slower and get on the gas sooner, it will slide in back no problem, or throttle back if the traction control is on.

Ultimately, the RC F does what Lexus wanted it to do. It’s faster than a lot of the people who’ll buy it, but its performance is also accessable, providing room to build skill. It’s as close to idiot-proof as any car with its performance envelope, unless you switch everything off. At a track like Monticello, which is slow learning for 98-percentile pros when the brake points, entries and apexes aren’t marked with cones, the RC F allows us of lesser skill to focus on finding the way around and working toward full speed. It’s as beastly as a Lexus gets, but an enjoyable beast, indeed.

Choose Sport +. Photo by Lexus

Back on the road, there’s nothing about the RC F that’s excessively painful. The suspension is definitely firm, even in Normal mode, and there’s slap, bump and chatter in the sport tires. Yet all that goes with the turf this car plays on. It’s generally quieter, more civil –maybe more comfortable—than an M4. Short of same-driver lap times, the seat of these pants says the BMW is the only car in the set that makes a clear-cut case for better track car.

Do I want it?

In theory, certainly, though if you’re an old-school manual buyer and a genuine shopper, you can cross it off your list.

The RC F does exactly what Lexus says it should in the functional sense, and it moves the brand closer to its older European competition in the image sense. No excuses necessary.